French Neurologists during World War I.

Abstract

The Great War accelerated the development of neurological knowledge. Many neurological signs and syndromes, as well as new nosological entities such as war psychoneuroses, were described during the conflict. The period between 1914 and 1918 was the first time in which many neurologists were concentrated in wartime neurology centres and confronted with a number of neurological patients never seen before. This concentration led to the publication of papers concerning all fields of neurological sciences, and these reports pervaded scientific journals during the conflict and the post-war years. The careers of French neurologists during the war were highly varied. Some were mobilised, whilst others enlisted voluntarily. They worked as regiment physicians at the front or in wartime neurology centres at the front or at the rear. Others were academics who were already authoritative names in the field of neurology. Whilst they were too old to be officially mobilised, they nevertheless worked in their militarised neurology departments of civil hospitals. We present here the careers of a few French neurologists during the Great War, including Charles Foix (1882-1927), René Cruchet (1875-1959), Georges Guillain (1876-1961), Jean Lhermitte (1877-1959), Clovis Vincent (1879-1947), Gustave Roussy (1874-1948), and Paul Sollier (1861-1933).